


Please

by youcallherhephanie



Series: Our Sweet Memories [14]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Panic Attacks, Pre-Relationship, Steve being lonely and sad, idk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 01:48:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20770523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcallherhephanie/pseuds/youcallherhephanie
Summary: Steve goes walking through the woods, mind full of everything and nothing, shadows and sounds. The house is too big, too empty, and with just him inside, everything feels like too much.Walking through the woods was supposed to calm him. He didn't expect meeting Billy would instead.Based on the prompt: "I can't breathe."





	Please

You know, out of all of his decisions? This was probably one of Steve’s stupidest.

The house had gotten too quiet, every creak and groan too loud in the void of the room.

Steve had been laying on the luxury Harrington love seat, arm draped across his face as the fireplace roared nearby him. It was uncomfortable. He’d been contemplating between checking all the rooms with his bat or to continue just lying there.

After too long a contemplation, Steve picked himself up. He paced around the room for a bit, hands clenched tight.   
The noises were all he heard. Shudders from the roof; creaks in the stair; the brunt force of the wind outside as it met the house. He flinched when a tree branch shadowed over a window. Steeling himself, Steve yanked open his back door, facing head on his backyard and the looming woods at the heels of it.

“Fuck it.”

And that’s what lead him to now, walking through the woods with his bat swinging back and forth in his hand. He hadn’t brought a flashlight, which was, again, a stupid decision. 

He didn’t really know what the point of being here was, maybe to gain comfort through the fact that he could face whatever was out here head on, or maybe just so he didn’t feel so small in a house so big. He was regretting not bringing a jacket though . It was cold as shit and the hanging branches were beginning to resemble the limbs of a certain monster. 

_Fuck, he should’ve just gone for a drive_.

A pro to his decision was that the woods were alive with noise. Animals squeaking and birds crying out, crickets echoing throughout the whole area. It made things seem not as empty and foreboding as the house had felt. Steve continued to walk through the trees, his steps loud even amongst the chaos of the wildlife. 

It was all quickly short-lived at the sound of a stick snapping. Swivelling around, Steve pointed the bat in the direction of the noise. If this was a monster, he didn’t know if he could fend it off by himself. Still though, he could try. 

Looking around for what had created the noise, he was only met with darkness. It was at the sound of leaves crunching, moving closer and closer towards him that he saw the source.  
Billy Hargrove, with a cigarette tucked between his fingers and a defined brow arched at him, seemingly appeared out of the darkness.

“Harrington!” He drawled out the name with a smile, sauntering closer. Steve groaned to himself. Maybe this was _worse_ than a monster.

Billy looked smug, as though seeing Steve had become a highlight to his night. 

They hadn’t spoken to each other since that night. Exchanges at basketball happened here and there, and there was always the looks thrown across the room, but they hadn’t properly spoken since the Byers place.

And seeing Billy here, now, Steve was really starting to regret leaving the house.

Billy walked closer, steps slow and dramatic, a grin still spread across his lips. “What’re you doing here, amigo?”

Steve winced at the reference. He looked around the area, body still tense and ready for anything.  
“Could ask you the same thing, Hargrove.”

Billy shook his head, blond curls swaying on his head. Steve gulped down his nerves as Billy gestured to him with his cigarette. “I asked first.”

Rolling his eyes, Steve motioned with his hands to the surrounding trees and woods. “Maybe I just wanted to enjoy my time out in the cold.”

“Hmm,” Billy looked over him, eyes bright and glimmering with something. “Somehow, I just don’t believe that.”  
“Well, I don’t care what you believe.” 

Steve picked up his bat from where he’d leaned it against his leg. He made to move away, back turned to Billy. He just couldn’t be bothered with this. A claustrophobic feeling was building up in his chest, Hargrove’s stupid cigarettes and heated gazed definitely not helping. He stumbled over his feet as his eyes tried to make out the shadows from the branches. 

His heart skipped a beat at the memory of sickly limbs, grasping at him. Shrieks filled his ears. Sounds of squelching bites, horrid twists of an unnatural body. 

It was all too much and he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t. The air was too tight and he couldn’t focus on the darkness around him. There were so many branches, limbs stretching out to reach him.

He sunk to his knees, eyes shut tightly. Shallow breaths came out of him, and he tried to rethink what he remembered of his surroundings.

One, two, three. There was the bat, a log turned upright, a pile of twigs, and Billy. Billy. He was in front of Steve now, concern in his eyes and holding onto his hands, touch so gentle, Steve nearly didn’t register he was touching him.

“Breathe, Steve.” Billy mimicked breathing in deeply. His cigarette was gone, and his knuckles, the ones closed around Steve’s hand, were scarred with numerous of small scratches and marks.

Steve shook his head.

“I can’t breathe.”

“It’s okay, you’re okay. Just watch me and copy what I do.” He lifted Steve’s head up and stared into his eyes for a moment, then rehearsed through deep breaths. 

Slowly, Steve began to repeat the steps, breathing in deeply through his nose and exhaling slowly out his mouth. All he could focus on was Billy.

After what felt like years, reality seeped back into focus. Steve could make out the trees from the darkness, and Billy from the rest of it all.

He realised, gaze meeting the boys, that he was still crouched down in from of him.

“Um...” Steve wiped his hands on his jeans, suddenly nervous. “Sorry, I don’t- how did you know how to help?”

Billy shrugged. “You get used to this kinda stuff,” a cigarette magically reappeared in his hands and he straightened up into his full height. “My mum would get panic attacks all the time.”

Steve nodded, standing as well. “Oh.”

The silence stretched between them, Steve nervously looking between his feet and at Billy, Billy looking at anywhere but Steve.

He hadn’t known that Billy was experienced in this kinda stuff. Didn’t know anything about the guy in general. And he was suddenly filled with the desire to _know_ who Billy Hargrove was. He blinked up at the blond.

“Hey, you wanna come over?” He chucked his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to his house that lay a bit behind the woods. “I got left over pizza.”

Billy looked over to meet his gaze, blue eyes bright they glowed in the dark. It took a while before Billy responded. Blinking one too many times before a lazy grin spread across his face.

“Lead the way, pretty boy.”


End file.
